It is a pleasant overnight between Newport RI and Atlantic Highlands NJ. We left Newport RI bright and early with the intent of sailing overnight and enjoying the overnight staying clear of traffic and hopefully only needing to occasionally tap the autopilot to swing out of the way of anyone.

Sadly out autopilot, which has been struggling for just about the entire time we’ve had the boat finally died on that overnight.

This meant an overnight of hand steering the boat. I don’t mind hand steering but in the dark it’s a bit difficult to keep a straight course. Just stair at the compass and try not to look away. Not exactly a pleasant night.

Turns out the wiring had pulled loose so I was able to rewire the motor once the sun came up and we got a good few hours of it working to give me a break. Sadly shortly after we entered the supertanker/cargo ship anchorage outside of New York Harbor it died again. This time for good. When I went to take a look at the motor I was greeted with a handful of sprockets and a clear indication that the autopilot wheel assembly was no more.

Liam took the wheel just in time for the engine to start giving us some trouble as well. Turns out I had put in some fuel that seemed to have a bit of water in it. So our water separator was doing it’s job but was full of water.

The answer of course is to open the bottom drain and drain out the water. Which I did, promptly remembering as the engine stalled out that by doing so I was cutting off the fuel supply to the engine and it was going to stall.

We did have our full spread of sails out so we were fine and Liam, while surprised that the engine stalled didn’t loose a beat. We just sailed through cargo ships and super tankers until I fixed the engine.

We then motor sailed until it started to get dark and then pulled in the sails and motored around Sandy Hook NJ and into the Atlantic Highlands NJ anchorage. We tucked behind the breakwater and dropped anchor in the dark.

Luckily Atlantic Highlands is one of those places where it’s quite easy to come in during the dark. Especially with an almost full moon which was certainly helpful.

The next morning though it was time to order a replacement wheel assembly, which unfortunately was backordered everywhere expect one place which could then name their price, $800 in our case, and have it shipped out to us.

Our plan of only staying a day or two was dashed as we waited a week and a half for our parts. Which turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I ended up horribly sick while we waited.